JAKARTA (foresthints.news) - The Indonesian government is not all affected by the move of US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement and has asserted that Indonesia has no plans to pull out of the historic climate pact.

President Joko Widodo has showed great determination by ensuring that Indonesia plays an important global role in combating the impact of climate change, including by signing the Paris Agreement into law.

In fact, world leaders from 175 countries, including Indonesia and the US, used the celebration of World Earth Day on 22 April 2016 to sign up to the “Paris Agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change” at the UN headquarters.

The Indonesian government was represented by Environment and Forestry Minister Dr Siti Nurbaya at the signing.

Later the same year, on 19 October 2016, the Indonesian parliament ratified the Paris Agreement. Just a few days afterwards, on 24 October 2016, President Joko Widodo signed an act passing the Paris Agreement into law, and the next day it was enacted.

These steps reflect Indonesia's strong commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement under the administration of President Joko Widodo.

“The Paris Agreement forms part of the Indonesian government's efforts to uphold our constitution and laws so that our people will not become victims of the uncontrolled impact of climate change,” Minister Siti Nurbaya explained to foresthints.news (June 2).

The minister went on to point out that Indonesia’s constitution demands that the country’s population is protected from the effects of climate change.

“President Joko Widodo has never given any thought to withdrawing from the Paris Agreement,” the minister affirmed.

In early December last year, the Indonesian government put into effect a permanent moratorium on new peat development. To ensure the moratorium is upheld, law enforcement measures have been consistently applied.

The following photos are of a relatively intact peat forest in a forestry concession whose operations were terminated by the Environment and Forestry Minister for committing peat violations. The peat forest in this case is home to critically endangered Bornean orangutans.

No international order

Minister Siti Nurbaya sought to emphasize that the implementation of the Paris Agreement was not an international order. Instead, the Indonesian government was obligated to implement the agreement after it had been ratified and passed into law.

“I should stress that the Indonesian government was not simply jumping onto the bandwagon by signing the Paris Agreement. The government signed it with a full understanding and awareness of what it entails.”

The essence of the implementation of the Paris Agreement is that the best resources are mobilized to take actions aimed at mitigating climate change and making adaptations through climate change controls.

“Indonesia is one of the countries most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change and, as such, the government has a responsibility and obligation to safeguard the Indonesian people from the effects of such climate change,” the minister added.

“The Indonesian government is sticking to the Paris Climate Agreement. Indonesia does not rely on the level of commitment from any other countries, including the US. Indonesia has its own national targets and goals that must be achieved,” said Minister Siti Nurbaya in closing.